DoD News

News Article

Recruiting, Retention Stay High Throughout Services

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2010  Recruitment and retention remained high throughout the services for the first two months of the fiscal year, with only the Air National Guard missing its accessions goal, according to numbers Pentagon officials released today.

All four active-duty services met or exceeded their numerical accession and retention goals for October and November. The number of new recruits is 14,108 for Army; 4,807 for Navy; 4,785 for Air Force; and 4,447 for the Marine Corps. The numbers reflect 100 percent of the recruitment goal for Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, and 102 percent for Army.

All four of the active-duty services also met or exceeded their goals for retaining members during October and November.

Five of the six reserve components met or exceeded their recruitment goals, with Marine Corps Reserve coming in the highest with 1,953 accessions, or 124 percent of its goal. The Army Reserve brought in 111 percent of its goal with 5,514 accessions, while Army National Guard brought in 108 percent of its goal with 9,563 accessions. Navy Reserve maintained 100 percent of its goal by bringing on board 1,305 accessions; and Air Force Reserve had 1,524 accessions, or 101 percent of its goal.

Only the Air National Guard fell short of its goal of 1,203 accessions by having 1,048 new recruits, or 87 percent of its goal. National Guard Bureau spokesman Rick Breitenfeldt said the miss was intentional, because the Air National Guard has been over its authorized end strength for a couple years.

“What they’re trying do here is realign themselves with where they need to be, which is 106,700 [airmen],” he said. “What they’ve not done yet is readjust the [accesions] goal.”

All of the reserve components were considered to be within acceptable limits of attrition, officials said.